They also look at films and politics, current affairs and as such wrote already on Taiwanese president, who also finds
“we need to look at history seriously and speak out the truth,”
Too many people may forget the historical facts. Sometimes it is also because nothing came of it.
Now when Hillary Clinton has accepted the Democratic White House nomination in a defining speech aimed at prying voters away from Donald Trump — and convincing America to entrust her with the world’s biggest job we could also take some time to look at a previous woman who tried to lead the country.
In accepting the US Democratic nomination for president on Thursday night in Philadelphia, Mrs Clinton said the US can advance only when each segment of society and members of every group work together.
“America is once again at a moment of reckoning,”
Mrs Clinton said
“Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying.”
Before her the first woman to work on Wall Street secured the third party nomination by the Equal Rights party in the 1872 election.
I do not know what may be in the head of the person who came begging for money by a Belgian priest.
A few days ago cowardly ISIS jihadis have tried to justify the slaughter of a French priest by using a thousand-year-old teaching – and warned that they will ‘spare no-one’.
Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi (Zahiri who died in 456) has said:
“And it is allowed to kill anyone aside from those we have mentioned, among the combatant idolators or the non combatants, such as the trader, the servant, the old man who gives his advice or not, the farmer, the bishop, the priest, the monk, the blind, the cripple. Spare no-one.”‘
65 year old Jos Vanderlee in church on an other more prettier occasion
In the North of Belgium yesterday the 65 year old priest Jos Vanderlee got stabbed and suffered injuries to his hands and tendons during an incident at his property in Lanaken, Belgium.
The asylum seeker knocked on the pastor’s door to ask for help and whether he could use his shower, reports Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. This the priest allowed. Having received shelter and a nice shower did not seem enough and when he requested money but the priest did not want to give that he attacked the priest.
Authorities in Belgium have launched an investigation but they have stressed that the incident can’t be linked to terrorism at this stage.
Marino Keulen, the mayor of Lanaken, said:
‘Despite the fact that we are shocked, we must stress that this incident can not be linked to terrorist acts at this stage of the investigation.’
At the yearly freely accessible World Festival Sfinks in Boechout, where for years already many volunteers from all sorts of background (this year 1580), including asylum seekers from different countries, try to build up a lovely atmosphere of brotherhood and a grand music and dance festival where everybody can come in for free, this year some 25 from an asylum seekers centre in Lint troubled others.
At the festival real teams come into existence and friendships are made for life.
This weekend, on Saturday night, around 21 pm, about 25 asylum seekers who came to visit the Sfinks Festival in Boechout did not yet seem to understand how in Belgium every human being should be respected, no matter how they are clothed, which skin colour they may have or which religious symbols they ma wear.
Witnesses reported to the security staff that some young girls were harassed by the group of asylum seekers. They were taken apart and the police called. The police of the Minos area had previously been warned by their colleagues that a group of men from the asylum center of Ribbon in the vicinity of the festival had caused problems. To maintain order and safety, the men were removed. Two of them who did not want to leave, were administratively arrested and remained in prison until the end of the festival.
The police have received no official complaint, so therefore not yet court proceedings can run. The organization of Sfinks speaks of an isolated incident and said that most of the 30.000 visitors have noticed nothing of the incident.
The four day free festival Sfinks Mixed in Boechout, Belgium presented its 41th edition this summer. The festival is known for its unique and adventurous musical offer and festive side programme, building bridges between different cultures.
Since 1975 Sfinks has been programming artists from all over the world. Visitors discovered stars like Khaled (Algeria), Youssou N’Dour (Senegal), Mory Kanté (Guinea) and Cesária Évora (Cape Verde).
Music that makes you want to dance, intimate concerts, today’s best DJ’s, you could find it all on Sfinks Mixed between July 28rd and 31th .
And that isn’t all. Children even got their own festival in the Kidz Village! and on the festival grounds visitors could encounter joyful parades and travelling acrobats all through the day. On the colourful world market those who could stay dry this year could find unique stuff and information about beautiful projects from all corners of the globe.
Perhaps not high Summer-temperatures it looked like once more the festival brought a great Summer to 105.500 visitors. The festival attracted a very broad audience: music lovers with an open ear, but also many families with small children, youths who like adventurous DJs, and people who were looking for artists from their country of origin.
The audience was especially impressed with the concert by Manu Dibango, Jesse Royal, Kel Assouf Guido Belcanto, Elida Almeida, Roland, Blick Bassy and Deltas. The Dutch hip hop sensation Brotherly Love led to frenzied scenes on Saturday night, traditionally a night reaching many young people. On Sunday, a typical family day were the thousands of children who were treated to concerts by among others Radio Oorwoud & Reginald and Bosbeesten. There was also the big kids village with workshops, stories and recycled musical instruments.
The EESC at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn brought together Europeans with a crying heart who could see that there is not much left of the unifying spirit for which Europe got a few years ago the Nobel Peace Prize
“for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.”
After the English voted to leave the Union other countries also showed that their where lovers of an exit in their country too. A big problem for the united (or should I say un-united) nation is that discipline, willingness to compromise, and loyalty are lacking. Above all, there is no European political public sphere to discuss central questions concerning a European togetherness.
The media are daily confronted with different issues which may destabilise not only the one country where the event happens but also disrupt the surrounding countries. From certain nations we came to see that the men in charge tried to put pressure on journalists and newspapers and try to domineer the radio and television stations. As such, news-gathering from those (Eastern) states was not so objective as it should. This also made many Europeans wondering how much what was told to them, was true and how much was manipulated by those European nations.
“Polish death camp” controversy – During World War II, German Nazi concentration camps were located on the postwar territories of many European countries including Poland, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Belarus, France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Norway, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Macedonia; nevertheless, death camps of Operation Reinhard were built by Nazi Germany only in occupied Poland for logistical reasons
There are Defective codes of memory (DCMs) which are phrases which appear to be emotionally neutral and objective, but which, at the same time, convey a false message about reality. Phrases such “Armenian genocide,” “Rwandan genocide” or “Polish concentration camps,” are good examples of DCMs – provided they are not mentioned in any particular context – as they incorrectly imply that Armenians or Rwandans commit genocide, or that Poles create concentration camps.
To a significant extent, DCMs suggest the existence of a context which is distorted. They convey alternative, false narratives about elements of our collective – global, regional, national, local -memory. If such narratives prevail, they will destroy society’s moral order, which is based on a shared history. As a consequence, the distortions could become a basis for reformulation of the present global order. Moreover, it would make it impossible to maintain the moral narrative which – in the context of international genocide crimes – seeks to properly identify victims and their executioners. DCMs tend to reverse this important element of this narrative.
World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB)
On June the 13th was looked at the ‘Media‘ which today have an unprecedented reach and impact. Based on their ability to mitigate and instigate conflicts, media also have a great responsibility for the peaceful co-existence of communities. Because of their global impact, media today are increasingly faced with different context-sensitiveness of what and how they broadcast. DCMs are context-sensitive things. Thus, making recourse to them in media may result in the deterioration of credibility and even higher operational costs.
Artur Nowak-Far, Director of the Institute of Law, Warsaw School of Economics, Poland spoke about those DCM’s and warned how people in the media have to be aware of the existence DCMs. Today and in the future there shall still be created new ones, and people as well as states shall to learn to handle them. During the Monday session the panel investigated various DCMs, their contexts and possible impacts and discussed how to avoid them.
A big problem today with all the different media, private, governmental or institutional run, and personal run on social media, we may live in a time in which information is more easily accessible than ever before, but when it is also that more can be manipulated and that often we do not know what is really going on.
Under the premise of spreading peace and liberty, powers in the vast machinery of democracy act in their own economic interests – at a high price to those on the receiving end. On the geopolitical stage, the light of journalism is often too faint to shine past the veils of secrecy. A fragile pawn in the game of power, media is instrumentalized to create public support. In an atmosphere of intimidation, self-censorship and propaganda, information and disinformation become confused. The free dissemination of selective truths catalyzes polarization and in doing so, gives inertia to radicalization, thus fundamentally undermining societal values and threatening the very foundation of freedom.
And questioned
In a complex and increasingly interconnected world, the need for objective discussion is rife. Do the values conveyed by media coincide with traditional values of open, democratic societies? Are our ethics compatible with our geostrategic interests? Are democratic values universal to all of mankind, or do we need to rethink the way in which we perceive, live out and spread our way of life? Join us at the 2016 Global Media Forum, where we will discuss the intricate links between Media. Freedom. Values.”
At the end of 2015, estimates showed that 3.2 billion people were online, compared to 3 billion in 2014. This increase is partly attributed to more affordable data and rising global incomes, according to Facebook’s recent connectivity report.
Over the past 10 years, connectivity increased by approximately 200 to 300 million people per year. While this is positive news in terms of growth, it also means that globally, 4.1 billion people were still not Internet users in 2015.
Those on the net got a lot of information to their electronic device, but do they know where to look for the right data? What is the mainstream for getting information. I have the impression that the youngsters in West Europe perhaps look at the headlines but get carried away soon by shocking images and flashy entertaining videos. Going deeper into the mater is only for a few.
The European Union should make work of it that more people shall be able to get over the four key barriers to Internet access, which include availability: proximity of the necessary infrastructure required for access; Affordability: the cost of access relative to income; Relevance: a reason for access, such as primary language content; Readiness: the capacity to access, including skills, awareness and cultural acceptance. Further they shall have to work on the credibility of the state media, which has to stay free of economical pressure from multinationals and advertisers.
The last few months we have seen that illiberal regimes use repression and propaganda to cement their power, which in turn undermines the credibility of their sources but also of those who do not dare to go in against the propaganda war of such states. In democracies, governments are curtailing civil liberties because of security concerns. Therefore we should be very careful which countries Europe wants to support and how to give in to their demands to limit others speaking or publishing. (Consider today the Turkish-Belgian Zaman newspaper published in Dutch Erdogan tries to silence.)
Ronald Meinardus was the moderator to the international panel of civil society leaders talking about the challenges facing freedom of the media (and also democracy in general) in their part of the world and discussing strategies to counter the shrinking spaces.
Since refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have started to arrive in greater numbers in Germany, the Benelux and France the public debate concerning the voice of them and Islamic groups has become increasingly stereotyped and emotionally charged. The image of the Muslims as a potential threat is ubiquitous. Online commentators, including those among the readers of Zeit Online, reveal deeply rooted resentments.
Many can agree that a more differentiated debate about Islam is necessary and that the media play a very important role in putting everything in balance. They also should let more religious groups talk about their religion and I think it would be much safer if state television channels would provide more time to religious societies. In Belgium the the national public-service broadcaster VRT or Flemish Radio and Television stopped giving broadcast time to the protestant, Islamic, Jewish and humanist alliance broadcasting organisations.
Those talks about the people coming to the European Union and the fear of Islamisation brought on 15 June the the panel “Migration, a story of two worlds” of the EESC, moderated by Michael Meyer, founding dean of the AKU Graduate School of Media and Communications and former Communication director for Ban Ki-moon.
Two refugees, Prince Wale Soniyiki from Nigeria and Suhrab Balkhi from Afghanistan, told the heart-breaking stories of their escape and described the hostilities they were confronted with in their host countries.
Mona Hemmer reported on how her village managed to host 100 Iraqi and Afghan refugees and what an enriching experience it has been for all despite initial doubts and resistance. Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, chief editor of the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, emphasised the importance for journalists of maintaining a professional balance in reporting on the topic of migration.
“We need to report on stories such as Prince and Suhrab described, but we also need to look at the negative implications migration can have”.
Luca Jahier, President of the EESC’s Various Interests group, emphasised that
“it was civil society that saved Europe during the migration crisis”.
The EESC wants to counter growing fears in Europe with practical proposals for EU institutions and Member States, based on its 11 fact-finding missions to EU Member States and Turkey. In addition to the panel debate EESC Vice-President Gonçalo Lobo-Xavier addressed the plenary on The implementation of the universal SDGs and the role of the economy.
At the May plenary of the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) the EESC called for a more proactive, dynamic approach, focusing on regional stabilisation and greater social and civil dialogue.
The problems in Turkey were not yet there, putting a shade on the EU’s relationship, with this country which clearly is gliding to a dictatorial state. Also Brussels trying to find ways to ‘bargain’ with Turkey and therefore to afraid to step on Erodgan’s toes today sees more and more people finding their way into Europe by Egypt, and that country not doing much to stop the passers by. Though Europe tries to bring more pressure on the Egyptian authorities to stop the smugglers by using aid and trade ties.
The ENP should be an effective tool for cross-border cooperation. Launched in 2004 to build on common interests and values with the EU’s southern and eastern neighbours and promote political and economic cooperation, but its “one-size-fits-all” approach has not been able to account for or deal with ongoing fragmentation in both regions.
With the refugee crisis we have seen that there are tendencies to protect the own nation more in favour of working together sharing equally, those who want to find refuge in the European Union. The situation in Turkey, Syria and Iraq showed to have a lot of influence on the stability in our own regions.
Asylum applications in EU and EFTA states between 1 January and 30 June 2015 according to Eurostat data
The last few years several European countries had problems trying to manage migration flows from the Mediterranean. It has been particularly challenging in the
past two years, given the impressing numbers of persons trying to reach Europe through the Mediterranean Sea. In 2014, 228.662 arrivals occurred, compared to the
76.449 of the previous year. This means a 277 % increase compared to 2013 in the central Mediterranean route alone (with departures from North African countries such as Tunisia and Libya directed to Southern Italy). Such journeys have predominantly involved Syrians, Eritreans, Afghanis and nationals from Sub-Saharan Africa, with respectively around 73,800, 34,200, 13.200 and over 25.929 migrants reaching the European coasts, reflecting the situation of political instability and unrest in their home countries. The Lampedusa incident of October 2013 was, sadly, only one of the many tragic incidents that took place in the Mediterranean. More than 3.000 causalities are estimated to have occurred in 2014 alone. Such numbers clearly evidence the magnitude of the problem, and explain this focus for the first meeting of the European Migration Forum which took place at the beginning of 2015.
In 2016 we could see many more discouraged, when left with no other alternative, looking for other ways to cross borders and seeking international protection taking up irregular routes to reach Europe, whilst migrants try to find alternative legal avenues to enter the EU, sometimes also via the asylum procedure, creating significant challenges for the functioning of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS).
Lots of British choose for a Brexit in the hope asylum-seekers could be stopped, but they forget the human traffickers and smugglers work in well-established criminal transnational networks and have no scruples, so the feared ‘invasion’ shall not stop. Illegal entry to Great Britain shall not be stopped whilst now for Europeans travelling between the island and the European continent shall take more time and cost a lot more to both parties, having again a stronger border control (Last week three hours extra). The Brexit also brings more danger to the outcasts with traffickers now using even more perilous and ruthless ways that put the lives of migrants at risk.
The mixed nature of migration flows entails a variety of challenges that need to be addressed at multiple levels, and that require a combined action between the public and the private, the local, the national and the communitarian sphere.
The problems of the Mediterranean may in fact only be effectively addressed if maximum cooperation and coordination is reached within the multi-layered governance that operates in this field.
Having certain countries putting up fences, barbed wire, and neglecting the SchengenBorders Code, we notice that border control in the East of Europe is not carried out in full respect of fundamental rights and the rights of persons seeking international protection, in particular as regards the principle of non-refoulement and effective access to the asylumprocedure. To ensure the correct application of the principle of non-refoulement, Member States need to have in place an individual procedure which is fair and effective, and which allows them to distinguish persons seeking international protection from other migrants.
The amount of increased attacks by radicalised asylum-seekers frightens many Europeans, but here the leaders have to take a firm stand and proof that they seriously screen those people wanting to enter our Union.
When the EU asylum legislation ensures that applicants have access to adequate housing, food, basic health care, education for minors and access to employment if the first instance procedure last for longer than nine months, the least it can expect of those who are helped is that they shall do an effort to integrate in our community and want to accede to our open way of life with freedom of thought and freedom of expression, inclusive freedom of religion. All the EU states should make it very clear that those who do not want to accept the freedom of religion in our regions would better go back where they came from and arrange there their own religious state.
It is very important that those who want to come and live in Europe from the start do know what to expect and how this state wants them to respect others. It is clear that they have the right to fair asylum procedures and dignified reception conditions, but from them the inhabitants of the union should also be able to expect dignity and respect. Important for the perception of asylum seekers to be welcomed in the host Member State, is that the civilians show their willingness to welcome them and to help them to build up a new life, which in turn will influence their willingness to integrate once recognized.
We must be aware that those fleeing people are an easy pray. Unavailability or limited access to legal channels for migrants and asylum seekers, combined with situations of harsh poverty and/or social and political instability in their countries, can push people to seek the services of criminals who intentionally facilitate their unauthorised entry, transit or residence into the EU, that is, migrant smuggling. Having them pushed in a corner they also can easily come to distrust our system and have them to follow the false teachers of religious groups which offer them some guidance and clear rules.
Whether in the process of undertaking a perilous journey or once they have reached their destination, irregular migrants go through life-threatening and stressful situations. Whilst clamping down on smugglers remains a priority, this cannot come at the expense of the civil society that operates only on grounds of humanitarian duties, whether assisting migrants at sea in line with the obligations set by the international law of the sea or offering vital help during their period of (irregular) stay in the EU.
Getting the rescued from the danger of the sea and than sending them back to Turkey where they’ll face an other torture is not the solution.
Europe should try to get all European Union members on one line, giving enough and good information on those who are willing to enter the Union. In case they cannot hold the own people in line, more ultra-right movements will endanger the stability of the whole nation. All nations of the union should clearly show their voluntary preparedness to come to a working and reasonable cross-border cooperation. Without it the whole EU will be weakened.
The EESC calls for a more proactive, dynamic approach, focusing on regional stabilisation and greater social and civil dialogue.
“It is true that the EU has been confronted with disruptive, sometimes dramatic developments in both the southern and eastern neighbourhoods. However, lack of vision will not help overcome the deadlock.”
says the EESC which suggests defining a new, bold, dynamic ENP agenda, including the prospect of EU accession for some partner countries which have such aspirations and are able and willing to meet the requirements.
The press officer of the Turkish embassy has personally threatened Mete Öztürk, editor of the Gülen inspired newspaper Zaman Vandaag (Zaman Today), two hours after the coup and said that the Turkish people in Belgium should take steps against Zaman journalists.
At the Flemish televison channel VRT affairs program Terzake, Zaman Today editor Mete Öztürk told how he and his journalists were threatened.
For days Erdogan supporters created amok in Beringen, where a community of Gülen supporters were harassed and the police had to intervene massively.
Mete Öztürk, editor of the gülenist inspired newspaper Zaman Today of which the motherjournal Zaman in the spring was placed under state supervision, denounces that people of Turkish origin are mobilized here from Turkey.
“If you look at the media in Turkey, which are all controlled by the government and all tell the same story that Gülenists are behind the coup attempt.”
“Hate messages are constantly fed not only by the media but also a number of umbrella organizations in Belgium which here convey the agenda of the AKP (Erdogan’s party, ed.),”
Says Öztürk.
According to him, the journalist received already more than a hundred threats, including from the press attaché of the Turkish Embassy.
“They threatened me personally two hours after the coup and said that the Turkish people here should take steps against Zaman journalists. That’s unbelievable.”
That brings the Turkish embassy again in dire straits after the Turkish ambassador had criticized the Flemish Government for questionable ties to the Gülen movement Flemish Minister Geert Bourgeois (N-VA) responded incensed and a few days later got apologies from the Turkish ambassador which he accepted.
But Turkey is not only attacking critical journalists in other countries, in the own country they go for the judiciary, courts, the police, the military, even educationalists. AEducation ministry officials, private school teachers and university heads of faculty together account for more than half the people targeted in the crackdown.
On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency for three months following the coup and consolidates his power on a scale largely unprecedented since Turkey’s first democratic elections in 1946.
The state of emergency, ideal for him to get rid of all who is standing in his way, allows the president and cabinet to bypass parliament when drafting new laws and to restrict or suspend rights and freedoms.
The move has drawn criticism from leaders in France and Germany, as well as from top EU officials. Clearly Turkey is braking the laws of human justice and showing to Europe it is a sort of country Europe can miss as toothache.
The Ummah (Arabic: الامة الاسلامية Al-Ummah al-Islamiyya or simply Al-umma) or worldwide Islamic community in Belgium feels the aftershock of the Turkishcoup d’état. The Ummah is seen as a global unit to which those countries are counted where Islam is the main religion, or, more generally, those persons who are Muslim, but like in Christendom there is a lot of variety in the believes of those Musulman.
Already last Ramadan the office of the Community Education received several requests from parents not having their children following music class because that would be a sinful action.
Students from the first years of secondary school refuse to participate in music class because they consider music and singing as haram (forbidden, say sin). Acts that are haram are typically prohibited in the religious texts of the Quran and the Sunnah.
If the school tells them that they need to participate because the state has determined it in the endterms and because it is on points which count for their end result, then those young children cry. They are afraid that the devil appears in the class, which is nowhere written. But today we do notice the same as for so called Christians that they do not really know what is written in their Holy Scriptures and believe more what the indoctrinationalhumanteachings (doctrines of man) offer them.
It is not about recalcitrant teenagers but about young children. In elementary school they refuse to go to swimming lessons in the Ramadan because it’s fast and then they should ingest no drink of water, and when swimming this could accidentally happen.
We can see that several youngsters become more conservative than their own parents or even go away form their parents Islamic faith to connect with more fundamentalist teachers. Often this brings friction in the homes and also gets some youngsters to decide to come up for the “Islamic cause” and going to fight in Syria.
Previous years, children younger than eleven, twelve years did not participate in the rigid way of Ramadan, because it’s not necessary according to the official Islamic rules (Sharia). But today we see the infiltration of much ore fundamental teachings, mainly form garage mosques and from the official Wahhabi and Saudi Arabic mosques.
Islamic division
That there comes a more disturbing division between the denominations of Islamic schools is clearly seen with what happens in Belgium the last few days. From the Belgian population 25% may adhere Islamic faith, but believing totally different issues. It often goes so far that in one family there may be division because the children are married in different faith groups which do not only disagree with each other, but also clearly show their dissatisfaction concerning each-other’s beliefs.
Turks or Belgians or Belgian Turks
When nationalistic feelings enter the cause it becomes worse, certainly when it reaches the point to coming to statism, it showed this last weekend. We must be aware of the existence of shadowy Koranic schools, non-profit organizations which nobody knows what they preach. They apparently indoctrinate those children, but today we also should question who is teaching those children such national feelings not for the country they live in but for the country their grandparents left long ago.
The previous days in Beringen (BelgianLimburg) Turkish minds got very heated, following the attempted coup in Turkey. The military action in Turkey also resounded in Belgium already on the night of the attempted coup d’ état.
Willing to keep Salam or not
Like many foreigners they suddenly seem to forget that Islam, a name given by Allah to their religion (Quran 5:4) is an Arabic word which literally means obedience and salam or peace, also Allah or God being a bringer and giver of peace. What should be the seed of peace, Islam being derived from the Arabic root “Salema” should be a religion where peace, purity, submission and obedience are the main issue of life, following the Quran the message of peace. In the East many have lost the horizon and the North, but here in Belgium it looks like several TurkishMusulman also have forgotten that the ‘Islam‘ is the path of those who are obedient to Allah and who should establish peace with Him and His creatures. Many of the Turkish community living in Belgium claiming to be followers of the prophet Muhammad and therefore being called Muslims, showed the non-Muslims in Belgium that there is a severe schism in Islam and that those who were allowed to live here do not seem to accept the same freedom of religious thought the Belgian citizens are allowing to all who come to live here.
Belgium is a fabricated, concocted amalgamation of different peoples, but a “constitutionalstate” in whichtheexercise of governmental power is constrained by thelaw, which is voted by the democratic chosen ones. The juridical system is oftentied to theAnglo-Americanconcept of therule of law, butdiffersfrom it in that it alsoplaces an emphasis on what is just(i.e. a concept of moralrightnessbased on ethics,rationality, law,natural law, religion or equity). Thus it is theopposite of Obrigkeitsstaat or authoritarian state (a statebased on thearbitraryuse of power). {Free dictionary of languages}
When you know that in a Rechtsstaat, thepower of thestate is limited in order to protectcitizensfromthearbitraryexercise of authority, the citizenssharelegally-basedcivil liberties enabling them tousethecourts for any dispute which may occur. According to our idea, a countrycannot be a liberal democracywithoutfirstbeing a Rechtsstaat. In our rule of law
“Our values, our rights and freedoms are the only way to an open and free society. Without our rights and liberties can a religious community like yours not live freely and uninhibited do its rituals. Our enemies are all those who try to undermine our open society with violence, “
said the Prime Minister.
Undemocratic attitude
On the 19th of July, Minister-President of FlandersGeert Bourgeois therefore criticized a spokesman of the Turkish embassy in Brussels, who had condemned purported good relations between Bourgeois, Flemish authorities and Flemish organizations on the one hand and the Gülen movement (Hizmet) on the other hand. Geert Bourgeois also denounced the dismissal of thousands of magistrates and teachers after the coup, stating that this is analogue to Nazi Germany and not worthy of a democracy and the rule of law.
Violence and hatred where shown aggressively on the streets of several Limburgian villages and ex-mining towns.
During Ramadan we heard already of some attacks against recordshops but also of protesters against those radical Muslims.
Last month there were days when hundreds of people went on the streets to protest against the conservative Islamic party AKP government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They shouted slogans like
and called Erdogan a “thief” and a “murderer”. The police fired tear gas and used water cannons to drive the demonstrators apart and several people were arrested.
Now several of the Turkish community took revenge and treated people with death. Several Turks who belong to the Gülen movement got to flee and hide in safe places.
Turkish but also European social media silenced
It is unbelievable how many Turks came already on the streets on the night of the coup. We do know many, daily watch the Turkish television, with the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, also known as TRT everywhere available in Belgium, so they are up to date of the Turkish situation and for them we can understand they also have their Turkish national flag at hand.
State-run broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), which has been criticized by the opposition parties for hiring employees based on their affiliation with the ruling party, has announced a TL 89 million loss for 2015. {State-run TRT announces TL 89 million loss in 2015}
Several Turkish television stations, like the private Bengü Türk TV and Samanyolu TV, S Haber TV, Bugün TV, Kanaltürk TV and İMC TV, which all could be received in Belgium, were taken off the air by the state-owned Turkish Satellite Communications Company (Türksat) early on Tuesday due to financial problems amid increasing government pressure on critical media.
Lots of Turks living in Belgium and the Netherlands blocked the Facebook page that had as title “Nederland mijn vaderland“, “Netherlands my fatherland” or “Netherlands my homeland”.
According spokesman Thomas van Elst, who also wants to create a party close to the PVV, users reported the page to Facebook for its anti-Erdogan messages, though there is nothing heavy opinionated. He said
‘We believe that supporters of Erdogan reported to us en masse, allowing a program behind Facebook to automatically take the Facebookpage offline.”
Van Elst then lodged an objection on Facebook for all posts on Friday, including those of Turkey being removed. The page therefore came back online on the 19th of July. Van Elst thinks himself that the media coverage has played a major role.
“Netherlands my homeland” has recently become the largest nationalist internet forum in the Netherlands. The page was established in 2005 on the then-popular social networking site Hyves and has over 250,000 likes on Facebook. In the past year one of the founders of the website was in the news because he was behind the tailswing event for Sylvana Simons. This former presenter has joined the political movement “Denk” (“Think”) or Kuzu Group Öztürk the political party founded at the end of 2014 by Tunahan Kuzu and Selçuk Öztürk.
Seleuk Ozturk (left) and Tunahan Kuzu (right) speak to the media, November 2014. (Image source: NPO video screenshot)
Although their party, Group Kuzu/Ozturk, has not yet been entirely defined, its creators describe it in sweeping terms as “the party the Netherlands longs for,” aimed at promoting “a society in which everyone is treated equally.”
Criticism and Freedom of speech
Several actions of certain Turks, with Belgian nationality as well, are contrary the Belgian and European way of freedom thinking inclusive Freedom of speech and Freedom of religion.
After the failed coup Friday in Turkey, Erdogan is pointing to Fetullah Gülen, as responsible. Gülen is an authoritative mainstream Turkish Muslim scholar and liberal Islamic thinker of the KurdishSunni MuslimNurcu movement in the Sufi tradition. He established many K–12 schools, universities [a.o. the Islamic University of Rotterdam (Islamitische Universiteit Rotterdam, also known by its acronym IUR, a vocational university founded in 1997], and language schools around the world inspired by his thinkings. Because of his powerful business position and having somewhere between 3 million and 6 million Gülen followers — or, to use the term they prefer, people who are “inspired” by him, he is eyesore for Erdogan and many Erdogan fans. Envy makes many not trusting his organisation.
“This tendency has long been underway. The Gülen movement is criticized for many things, and even terrorism. But never anything could be proven ,”
“Even more, democracy is absolutely sacred to us. So we are one hundred percent against any coup.”
Tensions running high
Is it perhaps because the Gülen movement is based on the Sufi tradition following one of the great charismatic religious personalities of the late Ottoman Caliphate and early Turkish Republic, Said Nursî (1878–1960) that so many Turkish people declare their hatred against them? His Risale-i Nur, disdained and sometimes banned by the Republic, nevertheless became the basis for the formation of “reading circles” — geographically dispersed communities the size of small towns that gathered to read, discuss, and internalize the text and to duplicate it when it was banned. Nurcus tend to say, roughly, that the Risale-i Nur is distilled from the Koran; non-Nurcus often find the claim inappropriate or arrogant.
Tensions between supporters of Erdogan and those of Gülen are running high. Supporters of Erdogan already came on the Belgian streets, making lots of noise and making amok, now already for five days.
Big problem is that many Turks living in Belgium believe the Turkish leader Erdogan who since Saturday is working on a “purge” calling his opponents the
“cancer that has affected the entire Turkish state” ,
a virus that has to be expelled.
Last weekend the office of Fedactio was pelted with stones and is it in Beringen – where with the Gülen sympathizers association Vuslat is active – for several days in a row restless. It looks like the battlefield of Turkey, though it may be over in Turkey, continues in our regions. It is incredible how much hate comes out of the mouths of those who are allowed to live in this state of free spirits where everybody may say what he thinks and where so many nationalities and religions are allowed to live together in peace.
Knowing where to live and where to belong
Clearly those Turks, who might also have the Belgian nationality, seem to forget where they live. Perhaps they better make the choice in which country they want to live and under which conditions.
Like Koçak says for those Turks living in Belgium
“The divisions in the political sphere is therefore never been greater.”
His impression
“Either you’re for Erdogan, either you are an enemy of the state.
We want to act like nothing better to come to a dialogue with the supporters of Erdogan, but that’s just not possible. The other side does not want to listen, even if we want to reconcile.”
The Turkish Embassy in Brussels believes that the Flemish government must do research into the financial flows in the Gülen movement and related organizations in Flanders.
“Then they will be found ‘paravents’ , screens were behind the terror lies.”
According to the Turkish government, it is that movement led by Gülen, which did the coup attempt last Friday. The spokesman of the embassy said
“They are terrorists, without more, like IS and the PKK.”
The (Erdogan-) Turks are against all those cultural centres, schools and companies of that movement in Belgium because
“All these so-called socio-cultural associations, schools and companies form a network that serves to raise money for the movement. Who support the Gülen movement, directly supports terrorism.”
It is known that Gülen organizations have good relations with European governments.
“And certainly with the Flemish government and Prime Minister Geert Bourgeois,”
“They can sell themself well. Two years ago they even wondered if Gülen could not be relocated to Flanders, at their centre in Beringen, as the US had wanted to extradite him.”
Whilst the Turkish President Erdogan yesterday continued relentlessly the witch hunt against Gülen sympathizers in their own country, there grew a deeper divide in Belgium between the Turks who are pro-Erdogan (the majority) and Gülen sympathizers.
Through social media or just on the streets is called to boycott shops and businesses of Gülen supporters. The Limburg GovernorHerman Reynders suggested the day before yesterday, after crisis meeting that it should cease and that hate-mongers will be followed by the police. Antwerp remains calm, but prominent Gülenfigures complain that they have been disowned, driven away and threatened.
The mayor of Beringen said that it has been made clear that Erdogan will ask for the extradition of Gülen-supporters [without Belgium being specifically specified]. Nevertheless, by 18 July 2016, there had been no requests by the Turkish government to Belgium for the extradition of persons related to the coup d’état. Newspaper articles claimed that Belgian governments would not simply consent to each extradition request.
Denying any involvement
Gülen calls on Washington to reject any request for extradition – Photo AFP
Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen, former ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, asked the United States, where he resides, to reject extradition requests by Turkey. Turkey has sent Tuesday four documents to the US that would prove the Gülen involvement in the failed coup in Turkey. But Gülen keeps denying any involvement in the coup attempt.
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Military Coup in Turkey
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Amsterdam, far away from Istanbul, and not at all in Turkey
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The Coup in Turkey brought in Rotterdam hundreds of people on their feet. On the night of Friday to Saturday supporters of Turkish President Erdogan went on the streets to show their support. On Westblaak and Churchillplein they gathered with Turkish flags and drove around honking cars. They shouted slogans and sang the Turkish national anthem. The Rotterdam Councilor NidaNourdin El Ouali gave a spontaneous speech:
“We have a message to Prime Minister Rutte We want him to take distance from this illegal coup.
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Several Turkish organizations from Rotterdam reacted on Monday evening to consult with each other and with Moroccan-born mayor of Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb. The aim is to keep the peace after the failed coup in Turkey last weekend, with over three hundred dead. The same as in Turkey itself again tensions builded up between Turks themselves in the Netherlands (Belgium & Holland). Rivalry is especially felt between supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and followers of the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
In the past the mayor already said Muslim immigrants who do not appreciate the way of life in Western civilisations can ‘f*** off’.
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EU foreign ministers arrived in Brussels, on Monday morning, to hold meetings alongside US Secretary of State John Kerry. They are expected to discuss EU-US relations, the situation in Turkey and the attack in Nice, among others.
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Reference articles
Several articles of the Daily newspaper De Standaard
Nice is a very popular place by Belgians to go on holiday, but Istanbul is also a very great favourite.
The most populous city in Turkey and the country’s economic, cultural, and historic centre at the Bosporus, also spelled Bosphorus is one of the big attractions for Europeans. The Turkish İstanbul Boğazı or Karadenız Boğazı, strait (boğaz, “throat”) uniting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara and separating parts of Asian Turkey (Anatolia) from European Turkey by the world’s narrowest strait allowing cruise ships coming in this eastern world by extension via the Dardanelles, the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. Also many tours by coaches do find this metropolitan city, of 17 million inhabitants, on the map.
The West was frightened on Thursday night the 14th of July with Nice. On Friday followed the bad news of a coup in Turkey, just at a time many Belgian tourists headed to Turkey.
It seemed that, at last, the army found it high time to halt the fickle Islamisation by the Erdogan government.
Aziz Babuscu, an AKP parliamentarian from Istanbul saw in this military coup an attempt from the West to bring in more international power and more co-operation from Turkey with Europe.
Babuscu said
“These international centres of power find it impossible to stomach a Turkey that is a regional leader.”
Fethullah Gulen -Photo by Ted.Regencia July 16
The Turkish politics became heated in the Belgian Limburg where several Turks got on the street to demonstrate and to attack those of the Turkish community they thought were responsible for the coup. Those who belong to the denomination of Muslims of the Gülen community were being attacked throughout the weekend, on which the Belgian minister of foreign affairs asked to leave out foreign politics from Belgian politics and to stop the attacks on the mosques and cultural centres.
President Erdogan was the man who had called up the Turkish community to go against the Muslims who are following their spiritual leader Fethullah Gülen, who lives at the moment in the United States of America and is the inspiration figure for its largest organization, the Alliance for Shared Values. Mr Erdogan called for him to be extradited from the US. Mr Gülen strongly denies any involvement and 68thUnited States Secretary of StateJohn Kerry asked for proof that he would be involved.
On Friday it looked positive having a press notice that Turkey’s military had officially declared a coup and said that it has “taken control of the country”, shutting down major bridges and Istanbul’s main airport,
“to reinstall the constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms, to ensure that the rule of law once again reigns in the country, for the law and order to be reinstated.”
The previous months we had seen that once again the president had done everything to silence those who had an other opinion than him.
Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
On Saturday the 1st army commanderÜmit Dündar said on TV that the army did not support the coup. Also the former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu condemned the ongoing military coup in the country as an “attack against democracy”.
He proclaimed
“Turkey is a democracy. There is no question of legitimacy in Turkey. There is a legitimate government.”
Pro-erdogan demonstrators in Istanbul
Counting on it that the coup would fail the president used the television channels to call the Turkish people to come on the streets. It was very strange to see so quickly so many people coming on the streets with Turkish flags, as if so many citizens would normally have a national flag in their home.
In Turkey, but also in other countries like Germany and Belgium, Erdogan fans came on the streets making lots of noise and throwing stones in the windows of several mosques and cultural centres of the Gülen movement.
We heard several people saying
“Whatever is the price we will protect our democratic country”
Many Belgian Turks seemed to be convinced that Erdogan is the best president they have and has done the bes for their country. If they love him so much and do find he is so democratic, why do they live hear and do not want other Turks and Kurds living in our democratic country having their own Islamic faith and not the one Erdogan wants every citizen in his country to have?
After thousands of people heeded a call from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and took to the streets an unseen killing took place.
Belgians enjoying their holiday at the same resort in Marmaris where president Erdogan was staying said they were asked to stay in their hotel room, but heard the shooting and came to know that the president could escape. Warned by his intelligence that a coup was in progress, Mr Erdogan left the hotel. As the president sped to the regional Dalaman airport, three of his staff were killed by the soldiers. At least two fighter jets followed and “harassed” Mr Erdogan’s private plane over the sea of Marmara, stopping him from landing in Istanbul for hours, according to a Turkish official.
In the capital Ankara, gunshots and loud explosions were heard, as military jets and helicopters were seen flying overhead, a Reuters news agency witness said. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that a military helicopter had attacked the Ankara police headquarters and Reuters said the parliament was surrounded with tanks. On television we could see how continues shooting took place from the helicopter but did not stop people climbing on the tanks and pounding on the soldiers who did not seem any chance against the big crowd.
Before the television screens went black the TRT Turk newsreader read the army communication
We also could see on television how soldiers had entered the government-funded television network’s building, ordered the channel off the air and taken the phones of staff members. A few minutes later a young lady read calmly a statement that a coup took place to stabilise the country again.
It was funny or surreal to see how the besieged Turkish leader was speaking from an undisclosed location into the camera of a mobile phone held by a newsreader at CNN-Turk. The presenter unclipped her microphone and held it close to the producer’s phone, and the camera zoomed in on Mr Erdogan’s face which looked determined to overcome this treason. He took the occasion to ask ‘his people’ to come on the streets. By the thousands they complied: confronting soldiers, lying in front of tanks and swarming the airport in Istanbul.
Also mosques were used to send the message by the loudspeakers, chanting out a salaa. That call, different from the five times a day call to prayer, is rarely used, usually after the death of an important person, and in this case, to warn, mobilise and encourage people.
Istanbul’s two major bridges connecting the Asian side of Istanbul to the European side, Bosphorus Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge were shut down by the army, local television channels reported, but at the same time we could see masses of people going near to the tanks.
The soldiers shouted at people to leave, but they wouldn’t, so they started firing into the air, but the incited mass did not seem to have any fear.
1971, 1980 had soldiers intervening. In 1997 the last coup attempt failed and soon it looked like this one was also going to go into history as a lost case.
It became clear that both the Turkish military, one of the world’s largest, and the Turkish intelligence services, one of the world’s most active, failed to halt the infiltration of its highest ranks by men whose loyalty lay not with the country’s democratically elected government, but — so Mr Erdogan alleges — with an ageing, self-exiled cleric living on a small farm in Pennsylvania: Fethullah Gülen. And lots of Turks living in West Europe seem to believe that and do not want to consider it might ever be orchestrated by the man in power himself to strengthen his position with a coup de théatre.
What the reality might be, once more, lots of civilians found their death and were used as living targets for both parties.
At least 290 people were killed and more than a thousand were injured. Many government buildings, including the Turkish Parliament and the Presidential Palace, were damaged.
The conspirators, according to Turkish officials, included 24 generals, more than 20 colonels, at least 6,000 other soldiers who have already been detained, and another 3,000 still being sought for arrest and and 2,745 judges arrested very quickly after the failed coup d’état. Late on Sunday, Colonel Ali Yazici, the aide-de-camp to the president who had unfettered access to Mr Erdogan, was arrested.
Pro-Sharia Islamic supremacist Erdogan got support from many Islam Brothers and Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups. Some utter it is just that connection with the Muslim Brotherhood that had upset the army in Turkey.
“The army didn’t feel that Erdogan was seriously putting pressure on IS [Islamic State terrorist group, or Daesh in Arabic] as many sources has been indicating,”
Though Turkey is an important NATO ally in the fight against the Islamic State, sometimes it gives the impression to play a game with the West just to put pressure on it to join the European Union and to receive funds. The West is aware that Erdogan got his seat in a democratic way and that the people seem to like what he is doing and offering them. Though it might not be our cup of tea, do we have to respect the choice of the Turkish majority. But that does not mean we should give in to Erdogan and take the Trojan horse in our regions, nor that we should accept that Turkish immigrants play their little war here on West European grounds.
In Turkey, Sunday night thousands of people took to the streets for a “vigil for democracy” after the failed coup attempt Friday by part of the army. Turkish media reports about victory celebrations in cities across the country.
After this failed coup Erdogan’s position to reshape the army and the country even further, might be strengthened.
Turkey backlash “Restraint” was the keyword from the foreign affairs meeting on Monday. Both the US secretary of state and EU foreign ministers warned the Turkish government not to go too far in its reprisals over the failed coup. Ankara does not appear to be listening as a full-blown purge rips through the Turkish establishment. With Ankara set to file an application to extradite a US-based imam over the coup, a diplomatic storm is brewing. {Financial Times – Brussels Briefing 2016 July 19}
The arrests showed “at least [that] something has been prepared” because “lists are available already,”
Hahn said.
Also Secretary of State John Kerry noticed that a lot of people have been arrested very quickly. He told journalists
“The level of vigilance and scrutiny is going to be very significant in the days ahead.”
If the Turkish government goes too far with its ongoing purge of thousands of military personnel, judges, and police officers accused of involvement in last weekend’s failed coup attempt, its actions could have consequences for the NATO alliance.
“No country can become an EU member state if it introduces death penalty.”
German press secretary, Steffen Seibert, stated that reinstituting the death penalty, what may Turks were demanding, will end Turkey’s accession talks with the European Union.
Kerry said he spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu several times over the weekend and had received assurances that Ankara will respect the democratic process. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby clarified on Monday that there is no immediate threat of Turkey losing its NATO membership but that
In my latest article for my lifestyle magazine I look at the growing tendency of questioning the information that people may receive by social media and the more controlled mass media.
By the years governments have become better experts in getting people to police one another but also to try them giving false information so that the citizens can’t recognise the truth any more and get more afraid, so that the state can use that fear to get more control.
We can see that “Fear” is more and more being used as a weapon to get citizens under control or having them voting for one are the other political party with the goal to have everybody under control. Creating fear may have people giving the control out of their hands. As such their destiny shall be decided by others.
Today many may think nothing is hidden, but they may be mistaken or misguided. They should now that lots of information is filtered before it gets into out living room. Some think they have social media bringing them up to date with all the real happenings of this world, but often they get voyeuristic news-gathering and do not take the time to sincerely look deeper into the matter.
Not many secrets shall be exposed, though we might find some whistleblowers and people who are eager to bring the truth in the daylight.
Mark Evans, Loren Feldman, Cynthia Brumfield, Rachel Sklar
I must remark that in the blogging world there are lots of people who try to break down or crush all that is said in the media and want their readers to believe it is all fake. I noticed this with the lies about the Brussels Airport (where I also work and could see the real damage), of which bloggers said the published photo’s were fake or from other places, etc.
With certain bloggers I chatted and became convinced they intentionally wrote such lies, whilst others I became convinced they were not so good in their head. The last category hopefully would be recognised soon by their readers, but for the first category it is much more difficult for…
Thursday night, on Bastille day, July the 14th of 2016, a city known for her wide Muslim community, providing lots of Jihadfighters, was shaken and had to see many Muslims, Arabs, Tunisians killed among the many French, Americans and many other tourists from all over the world.
Now they were killed by someone who said he was doing this act of martyrdom in the Name of that same Allah.
In a truck were the windshield was replaced with bulletproof glass or coated with bullet-resistant material, according to experts, he started a race of death going from one site to the other on a lovely promenade where every day and night lots of tourists enjoy the Mediterranean Sea.
Now after the facts it might be easy for us to complain and wonder why given that France has been on high alert since the November 2015 coordinated terror attacks that struck Paris, killing 130 people, the government was not more prepared for potential violence on a major French holiday. How was it possible that the truck could enter that zone the day before and left unattended. In it could have been hidden enough explosives to kill many more people. Why did the police did not remove that vehicle before the celebrations started?
On Tuesday and Wednesday the 31-year-old Tunisian immigrant Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove through the Nice seafront promenade area in preparation of what would become a nightmare for many. 84 people died when he ploughed his vehicle into people celebrating Bastille Day on Thursday. After Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was shot dead by police when his vehicle’s path along the Promenade des Anglais was eventually halted, they found his mobile phone with records suggesting he used dating websites and dabbled with drugs and drink.
The killer is said to have sent a chilling text message demanding weapons minutes before the seafront massacre, which would mean others were involved in it are connected with it as well.
The Telegraph reports
Suspects range from two Albanians suspected of supplying a pistol to Bouhlel, and others whose phone numbers appeared on the phone.
Another man, 37, arrested in Nice on Sunday is suspected of supplying arms to the killer after reportedly receiving messages saying: “Bring more weapons, bring five of them to C.”
‘Loner’ Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel was killed by police after unleashing carnage on the 30,000-strong crowd in Nice Credit: Matrix
On Sunday night after the arrests earlier in the day of an Albanian couple suspected of aiding Bouhlel, described by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) as one its “soldiers” already seven people including his ex-wife were in custody.
This attacker for sure can not be described as a faithful to Allah, when we know he enjoyed sex with more than one person, got divorced abandoning three children, and did enjoy an exuberant live in gyms and salsa bars.
Already in 2004 his father became concerned about his behaviour and let him being assessed by a psychiatrist in Tunisia.
When we do know that Nice with Marseille is a centre of Muslim fundamentalism and has lots of Jihadists in its midst it is very strange ISIS would ask to have an attack over there, because for sure many of their own brethren would be killed. Indeed lots of Muselman found the end of their life.
Alongside non-Muslim French a secular middle-class from North Africa has lived in peace at the French Riviera. It has one of France’s largest populations of Tunisian origin. Several groups of Muslims also found a nice way to live in the known port. But there are also several no-go zones where even the police does not dare to be on its own. You might find a French Molenbeek over there in the sunny region, darkening one of France’s most popular tourist destinations. In certain areas a population can be found that lives in bleak housing blocks in the city’s outlying districts, where in 2013 close to 40 percent of young people were unemployed, according to the French statistics office Insee. Such places, like we can find also around Paris and Brussels, are ideal to recruit people who want to find a way to work out their grudge against society. Omar Diaby (linked with the Al Nusra group close to Al Qaeda), a resident of Senegalese origin now believed to be living in Syria, has been linked through an associate or associates to Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the man who carried out the Bastille Day massacre, according to French news reports. He is one of the recruiters who managed to get 100 young people from that city to fight in Syria with extremists.
Mr. Diaby, several Muslims with knowledge of radical circles said, targeted 13- to 15-year-olds as recruits to join the fight in Syria and was notorious for using violent radicalization videos that made killing seem like a game. The French newspaper Le Monde and other French news outlets said the authorities had found cellphone records indicating that Mr. Diaby and Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel knew, or at least called, some of the same people.
Once more we can see that poverty, no job, no prospect for a better future is a good soil to create attackers of our society.
A problem in the city may also be that several Muslims are not registered in the town. Those Muslims not living in good conditions are also not able to vote because they have not become citizens or because they are not well organized politically, making it easier for the government to ignore their concerns. Several Muslim residents said the most worrisome trend was how immigrants were being pushed to the city’s outskirts by gentrification.
When you visit Nice you may find behind the cathedral in old Nice, a working-class neighbourhood where the local government has been buying up buildings. Already four (or five) years ago we found many derelict houses there. Several residents said the city either kept the buildings empty or turned them into cybercafes or day care centres, rather that rent them out to Muslim shopkeepers. The city has said it wants to renew the area and increase the number of pedestrian streets.
However, on Rue Italie, the once-fierce competition among numerous halal butchers has dwindled to two.
Lotfi Brick, a halal butcher from Tunisia, said the city government was
“trying to clear the Muslims from the neighborhood.”
Mr. Brick is proud that his clientele has remained diverse and loyal over the years, but he worries that could change because of gentrification — and politics.
“I have Charolais beef, the best meat in France, and reasonable prices,”
And normally that should not be a problem. But today we do find a group which finds it easy to claim attacks, even those done by lunatics are people who have nothing to do with them, but use the name “Allah” for bringing fear and pain.
When in December 2014, a middle-aged man driving a car in Dijon, mowed down more than a dozen pedestrians within 30 minutes, occasionally shouting Islamic slogans from his window, the chief prosecutor in Dijon described the attacks as the work of a mentally unbalanced man whose motivations were vague and “hardly coherent.”
Having again a strange man zig zagging on the Promenade d’Anglais slaughtering dozens of people, we should be careful to distinguish the work of mentally ill people and those who are good by their senses wanting to have more power and willing to bring fear over many people.
Having entered an age of terrorism it can well be that too quickly people come to the conclusion that it is the “Islam world” of Daesh that attacks their free world trying to limit it and chain it to the Islamic faith.
Daniel Benjamin, a former State Department coordinator for counterterrorism and a professor at Dartmouth College said,
“the Islamic State and jihadism has become a kind of refuge for some unstable people who are at the end of their rope and decide they can redeem their screwed-up lives” by dying in the name of a cause.
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° Remember for the difficult moments that there is nothing wrong with you. In essence, you are just a beautiful person. It’s time to find this in yourself again and really believe it. °
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One can never reach true self-knowledge without having come to a knowledge of the world. We cannot come to a knowledge of the world without self-knowledge. Neither can we attain self-knowledge without a knowledge of the world. It is like the beating of a pendulum which must swing back and forth. […]
Concerning my religious views and websites - Betreft mijn religieuze overtuiging en websites:
Recent Posts from my ecclesia: Belgian Ecclesia Brussel - Leuven
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Recent Posts – Recente bijdragen op: Broeders in Christus
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The Times, February 23 , 2024 Event Israel wants operational freedom throughout Gaza “without a time limit” as part of its postwar plan for the territory, Binyamin Netanyahu has told his war cabinet. In his long-awaited “day after” plan outlining Israel’s post-war intentions for Gaza, the Israeli prime minister also called for a “demilitarised, deradicalised” […]
Jerusalem Post, February 19, 2024 Event Russia has invited Palestinian groups to Moscow, which could bring together Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and other terrorist groups*. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said over the weekend that Russia invited Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow at some point in late February, the latest Russian move to […]
Arab News, February 15, 2024 Event Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has spilled over into neighboring countries and sent shockwaves across the wider region, transforming Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen into battlefields in an escalating proxy war between the US and Iran. This mounting instability has wrought havoc on the economies of the […]
Vindt ook mijn Nederlandstalige site van de Broeders in Christus – A Dutch language site of the Belgian Brethren: Belgische Broeders In Christus
“Want zie, Ik schep een nieuwe hemel en een nieuwe aarde; aan wat vroeger was, zal niet gedacht worden. ” De eerste keer dat wij de uitdrukking “nieuwe hemelen en een nieuwe aarde” in het Nieuwe Testament tegenkomen is in de tweede brief van de apostel Petrus, waar hij waarschuwt voor het vergaan van “de […]
Gemeenschappen hebben ruimtes nodig om te vertoeven. Als men gezinsleden heeft gaan die uitbreiden en zijn meerdere huizen nodig. Ook voor geloofsgemeenschappen is het zo dat die best uitbreiden en aldus nieuwe plekken vormen om samen te komen. In 2023 werden er enkele mensen in de ecclesia Brussel-Leuven voorbereid om ook tot onze gemeenschap toe […]
Het getuigenis van de apostelen De geschriften van het Nieuwe Testament laten geen ruimte voor het geloof dat niet God maar Christus de Schepper was. De apostel Johannes beschrijft in het boek Openbaring een hoogst symbolisch gezicht dat hij op het eiland Patmos had gezien. “Er stond een troon in de hemel en iemand was […]
Het geloof van de eerste gemeente Het is heilzaam deze ontwikkeling in de gemeenten in de heidenwereld te beschouwen vanuit het gezichtspunt van de eerste volgelingen van Christus in de eerste dagen van zijn gemeente in Israël. Zo filosofisch gezind als de Grieken waren ze helemaal niet. Zij waren gewoon van kindsbeen af zich toe […]
Or find recent posts on my other English site: Messiah For All
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world? Looking at the world, being sad, noticing that so many people are misled by big institutions that claim to be the only right church, whilst they do not follow at all the Bible teachings, nor Christ his teachings and do […]
Bible prophecies do not deal only with the ancient past. They also accurately foretell events that are taking place in our day. But at the moment we focus at numerous prophecies preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures (commonly called the Old Testament) which long before the man was born told about events which would happen in his time and around him, his betrayal, humiliation, torture, execution, death, and burial. From those writings of the Old and New Testament nobody should have doubts who that man is who is called Immanuel, the son of man and Messiah, born out of the root of Jess in the tribe of king David.
In Scripture, all things are directed towards a man who was a servant of servants, in whom people should come to have faith. First we saw the connection with Eve and her seed, and in this article you may see the connection with Abraham.
Already in the Old Testament we find the focus on a son of man who is called the son of God, who shall be the most pure set apart (holy) servant of God who was been told about in the Garden of Eden, to be the one bruised.
Many Old Testament writers wrote about the prophet to come, about whom is spoke in the book of Moses and who shall be the special “Seed of a woman” given by God and who will bruise Satan’s head whilst his heel would be bruised with nails on the wooden stake.
Or for thouse who have doubts about certain religious groups. A site trying to make matters clear and debunking the sayings of those against worshippers of the Only One True God. Recent Posts: Unmasking anti Jehovah sites and people
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world? In Christendom there are lots of denominations but oh such a few, keep really to the biblical teachings. A lot of churches claim they are the only right church. In case they would follow all the teachings of Christ Jesus, […]
The apostle Paul wrote about the dispersion, the dispersed House of Israel. They had been “without covenant“, but Paul was sent out to recover them. So they were “grafted in again“ (Romans 11/23). Or, Grafted back in“. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been […]
Rob Mac wonders when the door to door will return? He wrote this a while back, and went sharing it again. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses hate the door to door ministry, although they won’t readily admit it. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses have developed ‘creative’ ways of counting their time doing this work, and many strategies for avoiding actually […]
Constantine wanted unity in his realm, and his call in 325 C.E. for a council of his bishops at Nicaea, located in the Eastern, Greek-speaking domain of his empire, across the Bosporus from the new city of Constantinople was in a certain way his goal to achieve some agreement by which many could live. Constantine […]
Superstition, misunderstanding and hatred caused the Christians trouble for many generations, and governmental repression they had to suffer occasionally, as a result of popular disturbances. No systematic effort was made by the imperial authorities to put an end to the movement until the reign of the Roman emperor (249–251) who fought the Gothic invasion of […]
Those talks about the people coming to the European Union and the fear of 
Luca Jahier
Lots of Turks living in Belgium and the Netherlands blocked the Facebook page that had as title “
“Netherlands my homeland” has recently become the largest nationalist internet forum in the Netherlands. The page was established in 2005 on the then-popular social networking site 
said Islam teacher 
The soldiers shouted at people to leave, but they wouldn’t, so they started firing into the air, but the incited mass did not seem to have any fear.
1971, 1980 had soldiers intervening. In 1997 the last coup attempt failed and soon it looked like this one was also going to go into history as a lost case.
Mark Evans, Loren Feldman, Cynthia Brumfield, Rachel Sklar 
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